Hot football transfer gossip: De Bruyne devastates agent, Stones to cost £40m

Unless you’re the kind of person who doesn’t read football transfer gossip columns - which you obviously aren’t, no matter how much you try to deny it - you’ll be painfully aware that Manchester City and Wolfsburg have reportedly been in long-running negotiations over a very expensive deal for midfielder Kevin de Bruyne.

Fifty-million pounds is the ballpark figure that has often been mentioned, most of it earmarked for the German club and the rest lining the pockets of the Belgian player. But there’s at least one other person who would stand to get rich from the deal, and it’s this person who is making headlines - literally - today.

Patrick De Koster, who is De Bruyne’s agent, is not happy that his client apparently ended weeks of transfer speculation yesterday by saying he would stay at Wolfsburg. Today’s Daily Mail quotes De Koster saying he is “devastated” and insisting that De Bruyne only said he was staying at Wolfsburg because he can’t speak German properly. The Mail claims that City insiders, whoever they are when they’re at home, are “hoping there has been a misunderstanding” and that De Bruyne confused the German for “staying at” with the German for “leaving”. Kevin must have spent a confusing three years playing in the Bundesliga if that’s the case.

Moving on, Chelsea’s dodgy start to the season has apparently prompted them to increase their bid for Everton’s John Stones to £30m, but the Telegraph reports that Everton now want £40m, presumably detecting a hint of desperation in the Chelsea camp after seeing the way John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic have been defending.

If the move does go through, the Toffees will try to replace Stones with Swansea’s Ashley Williams, says the Daily Mirror.

Man Utd’s hopes of signing Pedro look bleaker than ever - they’ve just sent chief executive Ed Woodward to Barcelona to “attempt to conclude a deal”, says the Mail. Meanwhile, the Red Devils have given up signing a defender after Sergio Ramos committed his future to Real Madrid, says the Manchester Evening News.

Juventus are determined to buy someone from Tottenham, according to the Evening Standard, which says the Italian club will try to sign Erik Lamela if they can’t persuade Spurs to part with Christian Eriksen in a £35m deal.

Newcastle are no longer interested in signing QPR’s Charlie Austin, says the Newcastle Chronicle, but they are still trying to push through a £12m deal for Marseille winger Florian Thauvin, report the Guardian.

Elsewhere, West Brom have made a £5m bid for Spurs defender Federico Fazio, Southampton have swooped for Napoli’s £8.5m defender Kalidou Koulibaly and Sunderland have identified the man to revive their season: it’s their former utility player Kieran Richardson.

@darlingkevin